Looks Can Be Deceiving
by dear-lovely
Summary: The summer of 1995 was eventful for Dolores Umbridge.


This story was written for the Quarter-Finals (!) of the Seventh Season of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. I'm writing as Beater 1 for the Tutshill Tornados.

Name of the round: **In It Together**

Prompt for Beater 1: **Use the Beater 2 prompt for their favorite round this season**

Beater 2's (Rule23) favorite round & prompt: _Round 1_— **Write about someone who looks innocent but is evil on the inside. **(Tom Riddle is not allowed for this prompt)

These are the optional prompts I'm using:

6\. [character] **Percy Weasley**

15\. [creature] **Dementor**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. J.K. Rowling owns everything from the Harry Potter universe.

Thanks to my team for betaing!

* * *

Title: **Looks Can Be Deceiving**

Word Count: 2951

* * *

Dolores Umbridge considered herself as someone with high standards in life, although others would have disagreed. Still, she was proud of the fact that she was the type of woman who could determine a person's worth immediately—putting herself at the highest standard, of course.

That's why when she entered Fudge's office in mid-June of 1995 and witnessed the Minister in the middle of a mental breakdown while hunched over his desk, she decided once and for all that this tomfoolery should be stopped.

She backed out of the office before knocking thrice at his door. "Minister Fudge," she called out, giving him time to recollect himself, before reentering.

"Ah! Madam Undersecretary, please come in," Cornelius announced while gesturing to the armchair across his desk.

Once she sat down, she dropped the pile of papers she was holding onto. "Here are the forms you need to sign as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Dolores," he replied. After a beat of silence, he looked at her and added, "Is that all?"

Dolores hesitated, then peered at the man's sagging face. "If you don't mind me asking, are you alright, sir?"

His tired eyes slightly bulged out, never considering the woman as the type who cares. Uncertain if he should tell her the polite answer or his real one, he settled for the latter. "No, Dolores, I'm currently under so much stress due to the… _incident_ at the Triwizard Tournament, and because Dumbledore and his followers think that"—his voice became stilted—"_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_ is back from the dead."

"That's ridiculous," Dolores instantly quipped. "No one can come back from the dead. It's impossible to do so."

"Exactly!" Cornelius exclaimed. "But it doesn't matter now. If Dumbledore says that he's alive, then the whole wizarding population will follow him. There's nothing I can do. My hands are tied."

She thought for a moment, before saying, "Cornelius, you are the Minister of Magic: the highest position in the magical realm with the most power—more power than that geezer! Plus, not everyone worships Dumbledore. You have the resources and power to change how they think."

Cornelius considered what she'd said for a minute. He'd truly never thought he'd receive such grand advice from a seemingly prim woman, least of all one of short stature, yet it was the exact thing he needed to hear to embolden his meek nature. "Do you have any ideas?"

Dolores smirked. She knew he was the type to rely on others' opinions instead of following his own instincts. After working for the Ministry for decades, she'd finally managed her way to the top where she could right every wrong.

* * *

A few months after their initial meeting, Cornelius was able to sway his constituents towards the Ministry's way, with the guidance of Dolores. Her brilliant plan of starting a smear campaign against Dumbledore and Harry Potter had proved to be effective, causing chaos and confusion. She'd also had the idea of restricting any Ministry employee to follow the footsteps of Dumbledore with new sets of laws to prevent people from joining the Order. In addition, she'd thought to promote the Weasley boy to Cornelius's assistant to indirectly spy on the Order and Potter, but that plan turned out to be futile since he'd disowned himself. At least they knew his loyalties lay with the right side.

The problem now was that it wasn't enough for either of them. Cornelius wanted to convince everyone that Dumbledore was lying about everything, while Dolores wanted to restore order in the community. In her mind, the only way the Ministry could come out on top again was to vanquish the delinquents that rebelled against their very nature, especially one delinquent in particular—Harry Potter.

If it wasn't for Potter bringing that Diggory boy's dead body back to Hogwarts, screeching about how the Dark Lord was back, they would've never been in this position in the first place. The fact that he continued to cause havoc wherever he went, yet was still able to go out and about, was absurd.

Which was why Dolores knew for certain that the boy deserved and needed, frankly, punishment to end this madness once and for all.

Cornelius wouldn't know about this, that's for certain. The less he knew about her plans against Potter, the better. Although they had been defaming his name, Dolores knew that Cornelius personally knew him and had a soft spot—albeit smaller than it had been—for him. As Senior Undersecretary, she had access to many of the Ministry's resources. Maybe she could visit the Department of Mysteries, they must have something suitable for dealing with Potter inside their chambers. Then again, she could easily be tracked to the Department, so that option wasn't available. In order to make this work, Dolores needed to lay low.

Her office door opened, revealing Percy Weasley. "Ah, Mr. Weasley. What can I help you with?" she asked in a sickly sweet tone.

His hand holding the file of papers dropped in front of her. "Just here to deliver a file. The Minister wants to make sure you read this over before the end of the day."

Unbeknownst to him, Percy was handing over the manuscript for tomorrow's _Daily Prophet_. Ever since the Ministry had gotten an invisible, yet prominent, hold on the newspaper, Dolores personally looked through each article to make sure that the printed facts did not contradict each other or others from previous issues.

"Lovely. Thank you, Mr. Weasley."

Percy nodded and turned to leave her office.

Dolores opened the file and immediately spotted the headline of _DUMBLEDORE EXPOSED FOR FARMING DEMENTORS ON SCHOOL PREMISES_ above the moving image of a horde of Dementors, creeping closer to the page as if she was about to receive the Dementor's kiss.

All of a sudden, an idea popped into her head.

Her head shot up, her eyes glimpsing at the Weasley boy's foot about to step out of her office completely. "Wait!" she blurted out.

He leaned back into the room, confusion written all over his face. "Yes, Madam Undersecretary?"

"Would you mind coming in for a quick minute? I'd like to have a word with you." As he hesitantly stepped back inside, she added, "And close the door behind you."

After he followed her instructions, he carefully walked closer and towered over her desk. "Is there a problem, Madam Undersecretary?"

She waved her hand. "Please, have a seat—and call me Dolores." Her voice strained during the last part.

He took the seat across from her and asked, "Is this about the Minister's strange behavior recently? I haven't worked for him long, so I don't know if it's a quirk or—"

"I can assure you that the Minister is in perfectly good health," she interrupted, annoyed by the gossip about their boss. Wanting to change the subject quickly, Dolores steered. "I just wanted to ask about you! How have you been settling in the Ministry?"

His eyes slightly widened in shock, mostly because they hadn't spoken to each other about anything other than Cornelius. "Er, it's been amazing so far. I love it here, which is great because I plan on becoming Minister one day in the future."

"That's good to hear," she replied with a tight-lipped grin. "Have you gotten a chance to tour around yet?"

"I've only been on this floor, level five when I used to work for Mr. Crouch, and level three where my"—a gulp got caught in his throat—"_father_ works. I've not had the time to explore the other levels yet."

Dolores saw her opening. "Are you interested in a tour? I can give you an extensive one after work. It'll be good to look around before you become Minister," she offered, stretching her voice through those last two words.

"Uh, that would be great. Thank you… Dolores," he clumsily answered.

"See you here at six?" she suggested.

He nodded, then took his leave.

Although that was the most uncomfortable meeting of all time, Dolores was certainly on track with her plans to remove that little bugger from the situation.

* * *

"On level nine, we have the Department of Mysteries. No one except the Unspeakables knows what is hidden on this floor, so it's advisable to avoid stepping inside there at all costs. Only idiots venture inside, and none of them come out."

She felt Percy shiver slightly at her warning. "Noted," he squeaked. A beat of silence echoed in the small space, minus the hum of the lift whizzing. "So… you have a family? Any children?" he asked awkwardly.

Dolores was tempted to roll her eyes at him but restrained herself. She needed to be civil with the boy for her plan to work. "No, I hate children," she stated icily.

Her original plan was to go from the lowest level up, but she didn't have the patience to go through with it. Rapidly pressing the 'B-4' button, Dolores signaled her sense of urgency to the lift. As per usual, the lift ride dragged on for as long as it possibly could, and another word was not uttered between the two of them.

With a ding and a sigh of relief on Dolores's part, they finally arrived at level four. As they stepped out of the lift, she explained, "This is the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They deal with the beasts and half"—she stopped herself, remembering to be civil—"_other_ beings on this floor. Remember the Dementors that were sent to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, that was during my seventh year. Did they ever catch Black?"

"That information is confidential," she shot back. There was no need to remind Dolores of the Ministry's failure when they learned that he'd escaped for a second time. "Anyway, this is where they held them when they weren't at the school or Azkaban," she announced as they were next to the tall, black wall at the end of the hall.

Squinting, Percy inquired, "Are there any left?"

She tilted her head to get a good look at the screen for the room. Tampering with it, Dolores answered, "There aren't any, from the looks of it. It seems that it's an empty room, which is odd since it should still be here."

Without a second thought, Percy flung open the door to the room and two Dementors emerged. He covered his face to shield himself from the creatures, waiting to shiver from the chilled air. After a moment, he tentatively lifted his head to see where they had gone, and instead he saw Dolores with her back against the door whilst breathing heavily.

He hurried to her. "Are you alright? Where are they?"

Taking a breath in between words, she answered, "They're… back… inside… the room… Had… to work… fast… Too… fast…"

"I'm sorry! That was idiotic of me. I don't know what came over me! It was like I couldn't think about anything other than opening the—"

"It's fine," she interrupted. Dusting herself off, she resumed, "We're both fine, and the Dementors are confined. No need to worry." Dolores walked briskly towards the lift, not waiting for Percy to catch up.

Because of his long Weasley legs, he caught up with her in three paces. "So—"

"So the tour will have to end here, and we will never speak about this incident ever again. Understood?"

"But—"

"But if someone finds out about this, then we both lose our jobs." Dolores whipped her head towards Percy to glare at him. "And we don't need to lose our jobs because of a silly incident, do we?"

Percy gulped. "N-no," he agreed.

The lift dinged and its doors opened. "Good!" she shrilly exclaimed as they walked inside, and she pressed 'B-8' for the atrium. "I'm sorry for cutting this short. I just realized I have dinner scheduled."

"Er, that's fine?" he meekly responded.

Luckily, it didn't take long for the lift to arrive on the floor. She quickly bid him farewell and Apparated straight home.

* * *

As Dolores was righting her desk a week later, she whistled to herself. It was unlike her, but she was alone in her office and was in a whistling mood.

Suddenly, her office door banged open and shut, revealing a reddened redhead. "Dolores…" Percy growled through gritted teeth.

She forced a smile. "You know that it isn't polite to barge into someone's office unannounced, Mr. Weasley. I'm afraid I have to inform the Minister about this uncalled behavior."

He slowly trudged towards her, grasped the edge of her desk, and leaned closer to her in a pose most people would have found menacing, yet Dolores sat upright in her seat, shooting him an equally ominous stare.

"Mr. Weasley—"

"Is that why you brought me there? To send Dementors to Harry?" he snarled.

Caught, she looked away from him, needing a moment to think. In a steely voice, she met his eyes once again and answered, "I did what had to be done."

He swung his arms in annoyance. "He's just a boy! Sure, he's mental and unstable at the moment, but why put in all this effort? He doesn't pose a real threat to the Ministry."

"But he still has pull. He'll poison the wizarding world with his lies, giving him more control over an entire population than the actual government, which is supposed to protect its citizens from nonsensical paranoia. That's why sending Dementors to Little Whinging was the perfect win-win situation. Either he would break wizarding law by casting a Patronus Charm as a minor or—"

"Or he would've suffered the Dementor's kiss…" Percy finished her sentence.

"That is why no one outside of this room will ever know what happened that day." Dolores squinted her eyes at him. "Understood?"

He turned his attention to the ground. "Yeah… loud and clear," he mumbled. Without another word, he left her office.

* * *

"Dolores, may I have a word?" Cornelius asked when she stepped into his office a fortnight later.

"Of course, Minister. What can I help you with?"

He tapped his fingers on the tabletop while his eyes scanned the paper in front of him. "I received an important letter from the Hogwarts Board of Governors today. The new school year is a week away, and the Board rejected every person Dumbledore recommended for the Defense position. A good sign that the smear campaign is working."

"That's great to hear, Cornelius."

"Yes, well, that poses a certain… _opportunity_ for us. Elder Hawthorne, the lead chairman on the board, highly suggested that the new Defense professor should be someone from the Ministry."

She clapped her hands once. "Excellent, sir! I know many qualified Aurors—"

"Not Aurors, Dolores. We need them more than ever right now. I believe that you're the best candidate for the position. No one understands the Ministry as well as you do. You're uniquely qualified in the field, and you can police any absurd behavior that might happen in the school. Besides, you've proven that you're capable of handling _anything_ from this past summer alone. It's perfect!"

"But, sir—"

"Don't worry, your job here will be in good hands while you're away in Scotland. The Weasley boy is more than qualified, I can assure you."

She stifled a laugh of disbelief erupting at the bottom of her throat. Looking at Cornelius's face, she knew that he was unaware of her involvement with the Dementor attack. Strapping on her trademark tight-lipped grin, she replied, "Fine, I'll accept the position. Is there anything else, sir?"

"One more thing: you're officially excused from Senior Undersecretary duties effective immediately. I need you to prepare a Ministry-approved course plan by the end of the week. That will be all."

Silencing her stuttering, she took her leave to track down a certain young man.

* * *

Entering her office after the appalling meeting, Dolores shut the door and groaned. "I'm going to kill that boy—"

"Please don't murder anyone while I'm here. Better yet, don't murder anyone, _period_!" a voice emerged from behind her desk.

Fuming, she marched towards Percy. "Get out of my chair, _now_!" she demanded.

"I wouldn't shout if I were you, Dolores. There are people outside. Also, it's technically my office now and you don't currently hold any authority over me," Percy smugly pointed out.

"Why, you _conniving arse_—"

"You do realize that we wouldn't have been in this position if you hadn't used me to torture a teenager, right?" he interrupted her.

"What—"

"Of course I didn't rat you out directly. I mean, I'm not stupid. But I realized that I had to play the same game as you, so I thought about everything you've done recently—the smear campaigns, the government-tampered news, the strict new laws, among other indiscretions—and I used it all against you. See, it was clear that you were Fudge's new advisor after he stopped trusting Dumbledore, and that you abused that trust months ago. It was also fortunate that, as Hawthorne's former intern, I knew he read _The Daily Prophet_ religiously, so all it took was a butterbeer meeting and an offhand comment about hiring from the Ministry. And after Fudge noticed that I was doing the work that you've been neglecting for the past month, _voila_! Now you get to do your dream job, working with children, and I am a step closer to my career goals. Isn't it funny how life works out?"

"You despicable snit! I hired you because you were some foolish boy who was naive about everything—"

"And I wouldn't have pegged you as a snotty little bitch either, but here we are. Now leave my office. Your stuff is outside." He waved to dismiss her before going back to work.

With a huff, Dolores flipped her short bob and stormed out.


End file.
